Faces of Death (1978)

A collection of death scenes, ranging from TV-material to home-made super-8 movies The common factor is death by some means.

Director:

John Alan Schwartz

Writer:

John Alan Schwartz

Stars:

Michael Carr, Samuel Berkowitz, Mary Ellen Brighton

Cast

Credited cast:
Michael Carr	...	Dr. Francis B. Gröss
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Samuel Berkowitz	...	Himself; Cryogenics patient
Mary Ellen Brighton	...	Herself; suicide victim shown jumping out of a window
Thomas Noguchi	...	Himself

Storyline

A 'mockumentary' hosted by Dr. Francis B. Gross, a coroner. He is trying to show you the different 'faces' of people while dying. There are faked scenes of people getting killed intermixed with footage of real accidents. There are executions by decapitation (in an unknown Arab country) and the electric chair. One scene shows a group of tourists in Egypt smashing a monkey's head while still alive and eating its brains. There are shots of animals eating people and satanic orgies using dead bodies. There is a segment that deals with an alligator that accidentally entered 'residential' waters. The local warden goes in his boat to get the crocodile back into the sea when he accidentally falls over and becomes gator bait. The film ends with newsreel footage of people jumping off buildings and major accidents.

---

Plot Keywords:

death | execution | brain | mockumentary | alligator | 

---

Taglines:

Banned in 46 Countries!

---

Genres:

Documentary | Horror

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Gorgon Video

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

10 November 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Original Faces of Death

Filming Locations:

Guanajuato, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$450,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

F.O.D. Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an interview, director John Alan Schwartz said that he played the leader of the flesh eating cult at the end of the film.

---

Goofs

After the farmer chops off the roosters head, she hacks the ax back into the stump and it sticks in at a perfectly straight angle. Then it is suddenly sticking out at a horizontal angle.

---

Quotes

Dr. Francis B. Gröss: This accident occured in an air show in the Western United States. The man plummeted to earth from 2,000 feet when his parachute malfunctioned. I wondered what thoughts went through this man's mind as he fell from the sky at 80 miles per hour. Doctors later informed me the man suffered a painless death or he had slipped into cardiac arrest before hitting the ground. After playing this action back in slow motion I disagreed. It appeared the sky diver struggled throughout the fall, trying in vain...

---

Crazy Credits

At the end of the film, the credits say "Special thanks to the mummies of Guanajuato, Mexico"

---

Connections

Spoofed in Faces of Schlock (2009)

---

Soundtracks

"Jesus Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
Music by Gene Kauer
Lyrics by Richard McAndrews and Robert C. Wayne
Sung by Robert C. Wayne

User Reviews

Mostly fake; you could do better

It's really ironic that of all the "shockumentaries" that have turned up on video in recent years the "Faces of Death" series has attracted the most attention (positive and negative), since so much of its "shocking" footage is blatantly phoney. Those with an interest in authentic death and atrocity footage would do better to check out the "Death Scenes" series (3 volumes), "Inhumanities 2" or the British documentary "Executions". (An editorial aside here, since I'm frequently asked why I watch such material: While I wouldn't say that such films are fun or enjoyable to watch, I make myself watch them occasionally to remind myself not to take the best things in life

• or life itself, for that matter - for granted.)